Jermain Defoe repaid Sven-Göran Eriksson's faith with a goal as England sealed a crucial World Cup
victory. Defoe was one of two changes, with David James
dropped for Paul Robinson and Alan Smith also axed. He turned
brilliantly to put England ahead after 36 minutes, but Maciej
Zurawski levelled with a powerful finish two minutes after
half-time. England's winner came after 57 minutes when
Arkadiusz Glowacki deflected Ashley Cole's cross past Jerzy Dudek.

It was a vital morale-booster for England after
the disappointing draw in Austria, giving Sven-Göran Eriksson's side
four points from their opening two games. And Defoe's
performance has given Eriksson a pleasant dilemma once Wayne Rooney
recovers from his foot injury. Defoe has looked comfortable at
international level, but he was betrayed by over-anxiety as he
wasted an opportunity to put England ahead after 20 minutes.

Wayne Bridge and Cole combined brilliantly to set
up Defoe, but he sliced a volley well wide. But he made no
mistake when given a second opportunity nine minutes before
half-time. Defoe took a pass from David Beckham and turned brilliantly before firing into the far
corner past Jerzy Dudek.

It was the perfect tonic for England, who had lost
Gary Neville through injury seconds earlier,
when he was replaced by Jamie Carragher. The goal sparked
Poland into life, and after a period of pressure leading up to the
interval, they were level after 47 minutes. Kamil Kosowski played in
Zurawski, who gave Robinson no chance with a powerful finish.

But the Poles' joy was short-lived as England
regained the lead after 57 minutes, when Cole's cross was diverted
past Dudek by Glowacki. England stepped up the pace, with
Bridge denied by Dudek's fine diving save and Michael Owen narrowly
off target.

FA explains player silence

The Football Association has revealed England's players
refused to talk to the media after their win in Poland in protest at
criticism aimed at them. England's players were angry at
coming under fire after drawing in Austria. FA head of media
Adrian Bevington said: "They feel they have been treated very
unfairly in a number of areas." David Beckham was rounded on
for his recent performances but it is understood that newspaper
condemnation of David James was the final straw.

Readers were asked in a poll whether they would
prefer a donkey or James in goal after his error had presented
Austria with the equaliser in Saturday's 2-2 draw. England
coach Sven-Göran Eriksson backed the squad's media blackout.
"The group has been badly criticised over the last few days. They
try to defend every single player in the group. It is their way of
protecting each other and they are fully right to do it. They
want to defend all the players, whether or not they are on the
pitch, if they are on the bench, or in the stands.
They feel
very strongly about that. I have not read everything but I think
sometimes the critics do overreact a little bit."

Bevington added: "Individual criticism that goes
way beyond that of the way they perform on the football pitch is
something that clearly, in their view, is very unfair. I have
to accept and respect their decision but they have made it clear
that when we get together again in October for the game against
Wales, it will be back to business as normal. The players will
continue to conduct their daily media activities in a very
professional manner. They felt it was time now to make a
stance. It is not the first time they have felt like this in a long
period of time. They regularly receive criticism but they felt
it was so intense on this occasion that it was time to make a stand.
Some of it has been very unfair on the players and more so on their
families. People sometimes don't take them into account. I
spoke to the players and made them aware of the potential
consequences but I fully understand. I have probably been
following the media more closely than anybody and the criticism
levelled at them has been very, very hostile. There has been a great
deal of misrepresentation. I have to say that listening to some of
the interviews, then reading the copy and listening to the coverage,
I found it very unfair."